Abstract:

Due to increasing competition and shrinking margins manufacturing companies are shifting their focus on services and customized solutions. However, especially companies with long product- development history have often failed in their attempts to servitization. While firms have not been able to master the complicated solution provisions alone, the literature has suggested that parts of the customer relationships must be exposed to other actors. However, the supplier-customer relationship gets compromised and companies struggle to gain competitive advantage.

The solution network literature suggests that manufacturers should look beyond dyadic relationships when seeking competitive advantage. The increasing number of specialized companies and growing need of complementaries are opening new possibilities for orchestration of the industry. The network approaches are speculated to possess potential for competitive advantage beyond traditional solution-oriented business models by controlling larger networks. However, these approaches have been analyzed only anecdotally in current literature.

Especially in the ICT-industry different kind of platform strategies have proven to be successful regarding to orchestrate and control complex networks. Platforms seems to be advantageous when networks grow more complex, require adaption of new technologies, future technological development are uncertain and industry possess detectable systemic problems. Based on an empirical case study all these factors are visible in Finnish construction industry sector.

This research suggests that solution networks need actors who facilitate the development of the networks, integration of resources, communication between the actors, and organization of the operations. Instead of developing own services and solutions manufacturers could provide a platform that helps other firms to develop solutions and enables customers to find and utilize them efficiently. With this approach the “solution platform provider” is able to use its network as a source of competitive advantage. Furthermore, this mode of operation may actually transform a physical material producer into facilitator of industrial ecosystem.Kilpailun koveneminen ja pienenevät voitot tuotemyynnissä ovat ajaneet teollisuusyrityksiä palveluihin ja tilaustyönä tehtäviin ratkaisuihin. Siirtyminen palvelukeskeiseen liiketoimintaan on kuitenkin osoittautunut haasteelliseksi erityisesti pitkän tuotekehityshistorian omaaville yrityksille. Palveluverkostokirjallisuuden mukaan osa asiakassuhteista tulisi siirtää yritysverkoston muille toimijoille. Tämä kuitenkin johtaa palvelusuhteesta kertyvän kilpailuedun jakamiseen muiden toimijoiden kanssa.